无人机的killerapp跟随功能
注：跟随飞行功能将给无人机非常多的用途，最近在kickstarter上成功融资百万美元的几个项目都是使用这个功能，从这个开发者的原话来看，只要有开源的pixhawk飞控，加上配套的数字传输，加上任何一个安卓手机上安装上免费的，就可以实现跟随飞行，而且从原文下面的讨论来看，跟随功能不仅能在头顶跟踪，而且能够赋予一定的余量，比如在身后10米，高10米的地方跟随。
使用的场景有：摩托车，高山滑雪，滑水，翼装飞行，田径，自行车等运动的跟踪拍摄，小孩上学的护送，高尔夫球包车，仓库管理与行李运输等。可以说是无人机领域的一个killerapp。
当然这里面的水还是非常深的，比如躲避使用者头上的树枝障碍，准确的高度跟踪，等。
目前看到的技术基本都是不能自己计算轨迹的，关键是无人机本身不能产生地图，所以无法自动计算轨迹。
这是原文：
3D Robotics is thrilled to introduce the Follow Me feature, the latest adventure in autonomous flight. Follow Me mode allows you to be your own one-man aerial film crew: Capture yourself in action, with all the freedom of spontaneity and zero pre-planning, even when there’s no one around to helm the sticks for you. Just select “Follow” in DroidPlanner, strap on your Android phone or throw your tablet in your backpack, and your drone will follow wherever you go—and keep the camera trained on you the whole time! Place your Android device on another vehicle—say a car, boat, or rover—and Follow Me tracks that for you, too.
Best of all, it’s totally free from 3D Robotics, and it’s available today. You just need the beta of the new DroidPlanner 2.0 (free here) and the latest release candidate (3.2 RC 2) version of Arducopter (free here).*
To get the beta of DroidPlanner, please follow these instructions:
1) Join the Google+ community
2) Become a beta tester
3) Download the app from the Play Store (this may take 30 mins or so to go live for you after you become a beta tester)
To get the latest release candidate of Arducopter, select “Beta software” from the firmware upload screen of Mission Planner or APM Planner.
Both of these will be coming out of beta in a few weeks (after the Sparkfun AVC), so if you’d rather not be using beta software, just sit tight and it will automatically come to you with the next public update.
Follow Me frees you to be yourself, by yourself. Happy flying!
*Please note that as advised in the warning notice in Mission Planner and APM-Planner 2, Beta versions and release candidates are by definition unstable and should only be used by expert operators and only to help the developers test the code during the pre-release test cycle in direct coordination with the developers. In those versions, bugs are very likely to be present and the operator should be aware of a significantly higher operational risk and choose location and operation modes for flights accordingly, as well as be prepared for the possibility of undesired behavior of the aircraft and even a catastrophic failure.